TAMPA, Fla. — Prosecutors confirmed Tuesday that the 14-year-old boy who was beaten and kicked by guards in a juvenile boot camp did not die of a blood disorder as a medical examiner initially ruled.
Pam Bondi, a spokeswoman for Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober, who is investigating the death of Martin Lee Anderson, declined to comment further on the case.
She confirmed statements from Dr. Michael Baden, a noted pathologist hired by the boy's family, who observed the second autopsy, conducted Monday by another medical examiner.
Baden said the teen probably died from a beating by guards, not a blood disorder.
"My opinion is that he died because of what you see in the videotape," said Baden who was making reference to a surveillance videotape showing guards kicking and punching Anderson's limp body the day before he died.
After seeing the videotape, the boy's parents agreed to have his body exhumed and asked Baden to observe a second autopsy.
"I'm just glad the truth is out," Anderson's mother, Gina Jones, said Tuesday. "But I already knew what the truth was. Now that the truth is out, and I want justice. I want the guards and the nurse to be arrested."
Baden, who was hired by the boy's family, said it would be several weeks before the medical examiner in charge of the second autopsy, Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Dr. Vernard Adams, determines the exact cause of death because tissue samples must be analyzed and other evidence considered.
But Baden said it was clear that Anderson did not die from sickle cell trait.
Dr. Charles Siebert, who made that initial ruling after Anderson's death Jan. 6, was present at the second autopsy and may end up changing his ruling, said Baden, who reviewed medical evidence in the slaying of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
"I think he made a mistake," Baden said.
Siebert did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Tallahassee and the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division also have opened an investigation into Anderson's death. No guards have been arrested or fired, but the camp, operated by the Bay County Sheriff's Office, has been closed.
Civil rights leaders who rallied to support Anderson's parents said they hoped the case would lead to reforms.
"He was a microcosm of many young Andersons sitting in boot camps and detention centers across the state of Florida," said Sevell C. Brown, state president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Anderson entered the camp for a probation violation for trespassing at a school after he and his cousins were charged with stealing their grandmother's car from a church parking lot. He was in his first day at the boot camp when he collapsed during exercises and then was seen on the tape being struck and kicked by several guards.
©2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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